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Safety a big issue for local peace officers

The death of a peace officer in a rural area near Calgary last week has re-ignited debate about whether the enforcement officers should be allowed to carry guns.
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Unarmed community peace officer Wesolowski of the City of Red Deer tickets a driver on 53rd Street Monday.

The death of a peace officer in a rural area near Calgary last week has re-ignited debate about whether the enforcement officers should be allowed to carry guns.

Red Deer County senior patrol officer Bob Dixon said there’s a wide range of views on the issue across the province.

“Officer safety is a big issue for us,” said Dixon, who has 33 years of service as a peace officer.

“I’m personally on the fence. However, I’m well aware of and support the peace officers that feel the need to carry handguns.”

His fellow Red Deer County peace officers would be in favour of being trained to carry handguns on the job, he said.

As Level 1 officers, the county’s peace officers carry batons and pepper spray.

Policy dictates they extract themselves from threatening situations when possible.

“Obviously, sometimes that’s not available to us,” he said.

“We’ve been fortunate not to have any of our officers here assaulted in my 17 years with the county, but times are changing.”

George Woof, president of the Alberta Association of Community Peace Officers, said if you polled the province’s peace officers they would all support the option of carrying handguns.

“Anyone who stops any vehicle, anyone who at any time deals with anything out of the normal, would love to be armed. That’s a guarantee and a given,” said Woof, a 12-year peace officer in Nanton.

But there is much less consensus among the municipalities that employ the officers. A few years ago, employers were polled on the issue and some did not want to arm their officers.

Woof said he would prefer to carry a gun, “but not to the point I’m putting my foot down and saying if you don’t arm us I can’t do my job — because that’s untrue.”

He sees guns in the light that any piece of equipment or additional training and resources to help officers do their jobs is welcome.

Peace officers will be meeting in the fall and the issue will be one of the big items of discussion, he predicted.

However, how far the issue is taken will depend a lot on whether municipalities want to pursue arming their officers, he said.

Retired Mountie Rod Lazenby, who was responsible for enforcing bylaws in the Municipal District of Foothills, was allegedly murdered last Friday when he responded to a dog complaint at a ranch in Priddis, southwest of Calgary.

Trevor Kloschinsky, who lived at the property, appeared in court on Monday charged with first-degree murder.

The Alberta Solicitor General said the death of the officer leads to an automatic review.

“There will be a review of policies and procedures in light of the incident,” said department spokesman Josh Stewart. The question of arming officers will be part of that review.

Keith Boras, Lacombe County’s manager of environmental and protective services, said he expects there will be calls in some quarters to arm peace officers.

“I think in Lacombe here we’re waiting to see what the reaction of the solicitor general is before we officially respond,” said Boras.

Some municipalities have lobbied for arming officers in the past but Lacombe County, which has four officers, has not been among them.

pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com